SynthesisEuropean journal of pain (London, England)2025
Does pain influence control of muscle force? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in European journal of pain (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effects of ageing on fatigue and endurance of the spinal extensor muscles: a systematic review and meta-analysis.GeroScience · 2026Pooled it
- Changes in Quadriceps Force Control and Torque Quality Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Reconstruction: Associations with Functional Performance-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- Does pain influence control of muscle force? A systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Nature immersion in virtual reality has limited hypoalgesia effects for muscle pain or motor performance benefits during prescribed and self-regulated tasks.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Contralateral Thermal Pain and Naturally Occurring Muscle Pain Have Different Effects on Force Production During a Fixed Perceived Effort Handgrip Task.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Acute Modulation of Lumbar Motor Unit Behavior During Experimentally Induced Low Back Pain: A Motor Unit Decomposition Analysis.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy · 2026Article
- Reduced knee extensor torque steadiness and increased motor unit discharge rate variability in young people with patellofemoral pain: a pilot study.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- The effect of eccentric exercise-induced delayed onset neck muscle soreness on force steadiness and the spatial distribution of neck extensor muscle activity.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Effects of resistance exercises on rotator cuff muscle mechanical characteristics in shoulders with and without rotator cuff tears.PloS one · 2026Article
- Disrupted Corticomuscular Coherence and Force Steadiness During Acute Low Back Pain.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effects of microgravity on neuromuscular control of the spine: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Article
- An examination of ankle joint position sense, postural control and associated neuromuscular deficits in patients with plantar fasciitis: a cross-sectional analysis with advanced biomechanical and psychosocial correlates.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Article
- Enhancing human strength via neural modulation: mechanisms of maximal voluntary contraction and translational interventions.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Review
- Uncovering a hidden modulator for women in sports: An exploratory study of menstrual pain and brain connectivity.Women's health (London, England)Article
- Validation of a Novel device for Assessing Neck Muscle Strength.Archives of physiotherapyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectiveIn the presence of pain, whether clinical or experimentally induced, individuals commonly show impairments in the control of muscle force (commonly known as force steadiness). In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we synthesized the available evidence on the influence of clinical and experimental pain on force steadiness. DATABASES AND DATA TREATMENT: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, CINAHL Plus and Web of Science databases were searched from their inception to 19 December 2023, using MeSH terms and pre-selected keywords related to pain and force steadiness. Two independent reviewers screened studies for inclusion and assessed their methodological quality using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa risk of bias tool.
resultsIn total, 32 studies (19 clinical pain and 13 experimental pain) were included. Meta-analyses revealed reduced force steadiness in the presence of clinical pain as measured by the coefficient of variation (CoV) and standard deviation (SD) of force (standardized mean difference; SMD = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.31-1.28 and SMD = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.11-1.11). These findings were supported by moderate and low strength of evidence respectively. In the presence of experimental pain, meta-analyses revealed reductions in force steadiness when measured by the CoV of force but not by the SD of force (SMD = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.01-0.99; and SMD = 0.44, 95% CI = -0.04 to 0.92), each supported by very low strength of evidence.
conclusionsThis work demonstrates that pain, particularly clinical pain, impairs force steadiness. Such impairments likely have clinical relevance and could become targets for treatment when managing people experiencing musculoskeletal pain. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: This systematic review and meta-analyses enhances our understanding of motor impairments observed in people experiencing musculoskeletal pain. It underscores the significance of incorporating force steadiness assessment when managing individuals experiencing musculoskeletal pain. Additionally, it suggests that future research should explore the potential benefits of force steadiness training in alleviating patients' symptoms and enhancing their functional performance. This could potentially lead to the development of innovative therapeutic approaches for individuals suffering from musculoskeletal pain.
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Registered trials
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